This invention relates to an apparatus for making flexible bands, and more particularly to an apparatus for making flexible fabric bands for use in apparel.
Machines for making flexible bands, and particularly elastic fabric bands for use in the manufacture of apparel, in which a strip of fabric material is measured and cut and the free ends sewn together, are known in the art.
Moreover, the concept of feeding an elongated strip of fabric material beneath a sewing machine by clamping its lead edge and pulling the strip beneath the sewing machine, subsequently deflecting a portion of the strip beneath the sewing machine to form a measured loop, clamping the end portions, cutting the trailing end portion of the deflected loop, placing the trailing and leading edges of the loop upon the sewing machine work plate, and subsequently stitching the overlapping ends of the deflected loop together and ejecting the completed loop, is known in the art.
However, the mechanism for measuring or forming the deflected loop presently in use, includes a transverse measure rod which is mounted on the free end of an elongated pivotally mounted arm. The adjustment of the pivotal sweep of this arm in order to permit the formation of deflected loops of various lengths for the manufacture of different sizes of fabric bands, is somewhat complicated, and requires an excessive amount of down-time for each length adjustment. Moreover, the pivotally mounted measuring arms now in use, occupy an extensive amount of space for carrying out the function of measuring the length of the deflected loop.
Furthermore, the ejection mechanism in current use for ejecting and discharging the completed bands from the sewing machine utilize a pivotal ejection arm supporting a hook for engaging and removing the completed band through the swinging motion of the ejection arms. Not only does this swinging arm ejection mechanism occupy an unnecessary amount of space, but also the cycle of feeding and pulling the next strip of fabric into its measuring position must be delayed until the previous band is completed and removed from the sewing machine, thus, limiting the number of bands that can be made per unit of time. Furthermore, a swinging ejection mechanism must swing through greater areas to remove bands of greater length, resulting in timing and adjustment problems for bands of different lengths.
Heretofore, in the feeding the the fabric strip toward the measuring and sewing stations, some of the fabric strip portions, which are wrinkled or twisted, must be manually straightened, requiring unnecessary down-time.